Originally Posted by Idle

Regardless.... It is the center seat option.

I doubt that many of these survived since if you have ever tried to fit anyone in there you would know anyone larger than a chid would not fit.

But then, in the pre seatbelt and pre carseat era that's what this area was used for.

Mercedes normally went to conservative customers, business people, successful lawyers, etc. At least the 111s did. There was the SL for all those wild and crazy guys.

Anyway, there had to be some styling carryover for the customer to feel they were not going radical with unproven tech. Remember: Very few customers then understood these cars the way we do. They wanted the best but they also wanted to feel like they were making a safe purchase.

Rolls Royce did the same thing when they went from the car that they built during the 50s to the 60s Silver Shadow. The parts that the driver and owner touched felt the same as the older cars and this was important as it made them feel right at home and like Royce had not abandoned them.

And.... Could it be this item is not from a Mercedes but a Jaguar Mark VII? Or a Royce? As I recall these seat things didn't have a part number stamped on them, but I could be wrong about that.